About the Project UI Files

Each application contains a single Application UI Definition file, \ui\ol_ui.htm, that determines the structure and appearance of the outermost layer of an application. The HTML frameset layout defined in the Application UI Definition file represents what appears when the application first loads. It also represents the static areas, such as the contents list, surrounding the display pages as a user continues to interact with the application.

Each FRAME tag in this file defines an area in the application. One of the frames defined in the Application UI Definition file outlines the area, called mainArea, in the Advisor templates, into which all the display pages in your application load. You must use the RegisterUI function to indicate which frame defines this pageset display page area. The nested frameset structure of this single area is managed by a Pageset UI Definition file.

By default, Advisor associates the default Pageset UI Definition file, \pg\oc_default_ui.htm, with all the pagesets in the Advisor project. In this case, all display pages in your application appear inside the same frameset, regardless of which pageset they are part of.

If you want to change the frameset structure of the display page area based on which pageset the display pages belong to, you can create additional Pageset UI Definition files (\pg\*_ui.htm) that define unique framesets. To associate a Pageset UI Definition file with a particular pageset, use the Advisor application function RegisterFrameSet inside the Pageset UI Registry file, \pg\pagesetID_i.htm, of that pageset.

The Pageset UI Registry file also uses the RegisterPageLocation and RegisterExceptionFrames functions. These functions define which display pages and exception messages appear in each of the frames defined in the Pageset UI Definition file of the pageset. The Input UI and Output UI Generate functions always produce pageset_1.htm and pageset_2.htm files regardless of the pageset_i.htm settings.

As an application designer, you can put input UI controls, such as the Exterior Color list box, and output targets, such as the red car graphic, on a single display page. This requires you to write custom DHTML code to minimize "flashing" on the display page every time a user makes a selection and the page reloads. The default UI layout for an application therefore separates the two kinds of items across two different pages, and appear in separate frames.

Modifying the Application UI Definition File

Use the following procedure to modify the application UI definition file.